True Black Political History

A History of Black Voting Rights

frail John Adams feared that lifting the slavery prohibition would destroy America; and an elderly Jefferson was appalled at the proposal, declaring, “In the gloomiest moment of the Revo lutionary War, I never had any apprehensions equal to what I feel from this source.” Congress also enacted the Fugitive Slave Law allowing southern slavers to go North and kidnap blacks on the spurious claim that they were runaway slaves and then passed the Kansas-Nebraska Act, allow ing slavery into what is now Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, North Dakota, South Dakota, Kansas, and Nebraska. This new anti-civil rights atti tude in Congress was also re flected in many of the Southern and Mid-Atlantic States. For example, in 1835 North Carolina reversed its policies and limited voting to whites only, as also occur r ed in Maryland in 1809 . Political Parties The Democratic Party had be come the dominant political party in America in the 1820 s, and in May 1854 , in response to the strong pro-slavery positions of the Democrats, several anti

slavery Members of Congress formed an anti-slavery party – the Republican Party. It was founded upon the principles of equality originally set forth in the governing documents of the Republic. In an 1865 publication documenting the history of black voting rights, Philadelphia attor ney John Hancock confirmed that the Declaration of Indepen dence set forth “equal rights to all . It contains not a word nor a clause regarding color. Nor is there any provision of the kind to John Adams adamantly opposed slavery and was a key influence in the fact that Massachusetts always included African-Americans in its voting protections.

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